ManchesterOnline

Roy's eyes have it

ADMIT it, how many of you turned to this page and exclaimed, `Oh it's the fella who used to present Catchphrase on the telly?'

A wry eye on a mad world

JULY always makes everywhere seem brighter, exciting, nicer. The ladies exude youth.

A-ha! Coogan adds Arena date

BACK on the road for the first time in 10 years, Manchester comedy star Steve Coogan has now added an M.E.N. Arena date to his string of city shows.

Think you're funny? Prove it!

THE CityLife Comedian of the Year was the first and it's still the best!

Jeff Green @ The Lowry

IN a recent interview with the M.E.N., Jeff Green noted that he wanted to return to telling truisms about his life rather than writing gags for gags sake.

Jennifer's escape to victory

WHISPER it quietly, as we wouldn't want to tempt fate, but a new TV series being filmed in Greater Manchester could very well turn out to be one of the BBC's surprise hits.

Variety dead? You're having a laugh

THE man behind pop nostalgia tours is sending vintage acts on the road such as Frank Carson, Jimmy Cricket and those two ex-welders from Oldham, Cannon and Ball.

Opera date for Paddy - and you?

IT was a lucky break from his pal Peter Kay that put Bolton comedian Paddy McGuinness on the road to fame and fortune - now he's hoping to do the same for a new group of showbiz unknowns.

Five up for Mighty Boosh

THE Mighty Boosh are sitting outside a cafe, dissecting the day's news. The offbeat duo will now play five shows here in 2008.

Now booking! Comedy

FOR details on all the latest comedy gigs in town, click here.

M.E.N. Student Guide: Theatre and comedy

WHEN it comes to theatre, Manchester has its own holy trinity of venues then consistently lay on the most commercial or critically-acclaimed shows or both.

Justin Moorhouse's column

STAND-UP, DJ and star of Phoenix Nights, Justin Moorhouse has a weekly column in the M.E.N's what's on guide, CityLife. Catch up with his latest instalment, here.

Are you Reviewer of the Month?

WOULD you like to eulogise or vent your spleen about a recent music gig, comedy set or theatre show you have recently witnessed? Then enter M.E.N. Online's Reviewer of the Month competition.

Richard Herring @ XS Malarkey

WITH Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival looming, it’s the feast before the famine for Manchester’s comedy circuit as stand-ups sharpen their anecdotes on smaller nationwide crowds.

Simon Amstell @ The Lowry

HERE’S a revelation for you: Simon Amstell, the mouthy host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks, is shy.

Arthur Smith @ The Lowry

FOR a Grumpy Old Man Arthur Smith has the knack of making people happy.

Craig Hill @ The Lowry

CAMP Scottish comedian, Craig Hill’s act revolves around audience participation and even folk at the back are not safe.

Pam Ann @ The Lowry

YOU can feel a bit of an anomaly at a Pam Ann show if you’re neither gay nor cabin crew.

Paul Merton's Impro Chums @ The Lowry

GAMBLING: that’s basically what this is.

John Bishop @ The Lowry

LIVERPOOL comedian John Bishop is a very warm and engaging performer and from the moment he steps onto The Lowry stage, the appreciative audience are willing him on.

Daniel Kitson @ Royal Exchange

IT'S the stuff often spouted on press releases, but a stand up show by Daniel Kitson is really like no other.

Jenny Eclair @ The Lowry

AT the top of her Because I Forgot to Get a Pension show, Eclair notes that it's less that she forgot to get a pension more that she didn't expect to live this long, but Eclair is certainly showing no signs of slowing down.

Sandra Bernhard @ Opera House

QUEER Up North kicked off on Friday having enticed American comedian Sandra Bernhard over for just one UK date.

Dara O Briain @ The Lowry

MOCK The Week’s quizmaster, Dara O Briain, is rapidly earning himself a reputation as the sharpest comic on the circuit.

Nina Conti @ The Lowry

IT’S hard to imagine what it would be like to share a tour bus with an irascible monkey.

Dave Spikey @ Opera House

IF laughter really is the best medicine then we should be calling Dave Spikey 'Doctor Dave' as even crippled lepers would have bounced out the Opera House after tonight.

Omid Djalili @ The Lowry

IT was only a couple of years ago when Omid Djalili played the Opera House to a perfectly formed but small and disparate group of people.

Mrs Barbara Nice @ The Lowry

IT is Mrs Barbara Nice's complete lack of respect for the theatre set up that makes her most engaging, with her frequently hollering at the balconies.

Lucy Porter @ The Lowry

It’s an oft-noted observation about Lucy Porter that her diminutive stature and sweet looks mask a mouth filthier than a student’s bathtub.

Dave Spikey @ The Lowry

PERHAPS you wouldn’t expect 32 years climbing the career ladder in the serious world of medicine to be the perfect opening into stand-up comedy.

French & Saunders @ Palace Theatre

IT’S just short of three decades since Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders emerged from the testosterone heaving comedy club above a strip joint in Soho.

Chris Rock @ Apollo

AS anyone who’s ever seen Chris Rock's stand up will know, he doesn’t pull any punches and last night at the Apollo he was at his frank, ranting best.

Mark Steel, Mark Thomas, Jason Manford @ Comedy Store

IT'S no laughing matter, but earlier this year nurse and trade union representative Karen Reissmann was sacked after speaking to the media about an NHS shake up... and her co-workers went on strike in protest.

Russell Brand @ Apollo

ANY admirers of the back-combed, snake-hipped lothario who had been caught unawares by the extent to which he likes to interact with the audience during and after the show last time the Essex playboy was in town, were certainly not going to let another opportunity slip them by.

Frank Skinner @ The Lowry

IT’S been 10 years since Frank Skinner last toured. After being ensconced in the cosy confines of the TV studio getting up to do live comedy again was always going to be a daunting prospect.

Bill Bailey @ M.E.N. Arena

BILL Bailey was a little perturbed about embarking on his arena tour; transferring from the large scale theatres to the all out arena experience was always going to be butterfly inducing.

John Cooper Clarke @ The Comedy Store

Whilst Betjeman was the royally approved poet laureate and Pam Ayres the cuddly TV face of benign lyricism, John Cooper Clarke was the kid’s poet of choice. Back in the late seventies Cooper Clarke (AKA the bard of Salford) took poetry to the punk movement having opened for the likes of the Sex Pistols and The Buzzcocks.

Ross Noble @ Opera House

SONIC Waffle, Noodlemeister, Randomist, Fizzy Logic. It's easy to see why Cramlington-born mirth master Ross Noble astutely tags his tours with purposely vague titles.